This 1950s photo of electric typewriter protection at the IBM-Kingston plant will be part of the upcoming exhibit.
Photo provided

KINGSTON >> For 40 years, IBM reigned as the manufacturing giant of the Kingston area, its presence forever changing the landscape of the city and its surroundings.

Friends of Historic Kingston will spotlight the impact that the company known as Big Blue had on the community in an exhibit called “Kingston -- The IBM Years.” It be on display from May 2 to Oct. 31 in the Friends of Historic Kingston gallery at Wall and Main streets in Uptown Kingston.

A full schedule of public programs, beginning with a lecture at 2 p.m. Sunday by guest scholar Roger Panetta about IBM and the modernization of the Kingston area, will accompany the exhibition. The lecture will be presented during the Friends of Historic Kingston’s annual meeting. The public is invited to attend.

Ward Mintz, a member of the Friends board of directors and project manager for the upcoming exhibit, said the exhibit will highlight an important and transformational time in local history.

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“For those who did not work at the Kingston plant, the exhibition will be a fascinating education about one of American’s most successful and nurturing corporations,” Mintz said in a press release announcing the exhibition. “It will also be a reminder of the extensive development that took place in Ulster County starting in the 1950s.”

The IBM plant actually was in the neighboring town of Ulster but was known by most as “IBM-Kingston.” IBM closed the plant in 1995 and sold the property in 1998 to downstate developer Alan Ginsburg, who renamed it TechCity and has attracted several smaller companies to the property.

The upcoming exhibit will include one of the earliest electric typewriters produced at the local plant; rare vintage photos of the SAGE air defense system; photos of the post-World War II residential, commercial and civic structures that grew as a result of IBM’s presence; oral histories from more than 50 community members,- including former IBM’ers; and employee badges, scrapbooks and other momentos.

On loan by IBM for the exhibit is a whiteboard on which an outgoing employee crawled the words “THE END IS HERE” when the plant closed, Mintz said.

It was 1955 when IBM opened the doors to its town of Ulster plant, built on what previously was the Boice Farm. Its presence heralded a new era for the community that gave rise to the suburbs in a region that had been, outside of the city of Kingston, largely agricultural lands.

“There were no suburbs around Kingston before IBM,” Mintz said.

By 1985, the computer giant occupied 2.5 million square feet in Ulster and employed 7,100 people. Ten years later, though, all were gone — either laid off or moved to other IBM sites.

In addition to the upcoming exhibit and public programs, an illustrated book will be available for $25.95. It will include a preface by Mintz and essays by Hudson Valley scholars, including Panetta, Lowell Thing, a retired IBM technical writer and author of the forthcoming Kingston history “The Street That Built a City,” and George G. Washington, a retired IBM engineer.

About the Author

Since 1990, Patricia Doxsey has been a reporter for the Freeman, covering politics, crime, and government affairs. Reach the author at pdoxsey@freemanonline.com
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